Followers

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Today Sydney is four weeks old (she's holding up "4" in the picture!), and we took her to another doctor appointment to check her bilirubin level. I was confident before going in, because her little body is starting to look more pink (and pale!) to me, but her face is definitely still yellow (although the doctor said last week that her face and eyes will be the last thing to turn un-yellow). However, after taking her bilirubin level subcutaneously (with a little hot glue gun-looking device applied to her forehead), the doctor said they needed to draw more blood. This time, instead of pricking and "milking" her heel for blood, they took it from her poor little arm! As horrible as this was, it was a lot faster than taking the blood from her heel. Thank goodness Chet was there...he was the one who helped hold her down, while I sat on the other side of the room and cried. After that, we waited around for her blood results, and her bilirubin level was a little higher than last week (not good). Thankfully the rest of her blood results were perfectly normal, so the doctor thinks her bilirubin level is still elevated because of my breast milk (which is okay, it's just important that we know the reason). So...in order to rule out any other issues, we're feeding Sydney formula for the next two days, and we'll go back to the doctor Friday to check her bilirubin level. If it's much lower, my breast milk is the culprit, and all will be well (and she'll be able to start drinking it again immediately). If not...I'm not sure. We'll just have to see. By the way, she weighed 7 lbs, 8.2 oz today, which means she gained 3 oz this week (compared to a whopping 10 oz last week!). She's only in the 10th percentile size-wise, but the doctor says those numbers don't matter as long as she grows continuously and proportionally.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Sydney turned two weeks old February 10th, and also had her two-week well baby appointment that morning. She was a little jaundiced when she was born, and the doctor thought she still looked pretty yellow on February 10th, so they pricked her heel again to run some blood work. Indeed, her bilirubin level was still elevated, so we made another appointment for the following Wednesday (which was this past Wednesday, February 17th). The doctor thought she STILL looked yellow at that appointment (and she is), but her legs are a more normal color, so her yellow-ness is starting to diminish. The doctor gave us the option of pricking her heel again to draw more blood, or waiting until the following week to see if she looked any better. We opted not to prick her heel (the doctor agreed that it wasn't worth putting her through that again) and made another appointment for this coming Wednesday. He thinks her jaundice is simply due to the fact that she's breastfed, and isn't worried (and I am finally starting to worry less). Speaking of food...Sydney was back up to her birth weight (6 lbs, 11.4 oz) at her two-week appointment, and weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz last week! She gained 10 oz in one week (the little chunk!). Actually, she's far from chunky, but I think she's about to outgrow her newborn clothing because she's getting too long!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Here is a series of pictures of Sydney waking up from an evening nap (she was sleeping in Daddy's arms). The one with her mouth wide open is a yawn, not a cry. My favorite is the last picture, where she looks simply exhausted after undertaking an endeavor as taxing as waking up from a nap!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I'm pretty proud of myself for only going a week and a day between blog posts, but I know I should at least post pictures more regularly, so I promise to try! Here's what we've been up to: Chet's mom (Grammy) stayed with us the first week after Sydney came home from the hospital, and my mom (Didi) flew into Jacksonville last Friday to stay with us this week. Chet went back to work the first Monday after Sydney was born, so it's just been the girls hanging out during the day (I think Chet feels a little outnumbered). Didi flies back to Houston tomorrow, and Chet will begin two weeks of leave; we're looking forward to two whole weeks of family time!

Daddy and Sydney (there's been a lot of TV watching these past two weeks!)

Poor, baby! Daddy propped her up on the couch as if she was watching TV...

Didi Feeding SydneyBaby FeetTummy Sleeping

Didi and Sydney

One day Sydney was sitting in Didi's lap, and we realized that her toe was sticking out of her outfit. We thought it was hilarious (perhaps because we're a little sleep deprived)...

Toe

Mommy and Sydney

By the way, here are what Sydney's finished wooden letters look like hanging on the wall!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Hello, everyone! I'm back to blogging (I've been politely reminded by some friends to post pictures, plus, I started to feel guilty on my own for ignoring the blog)...

I don't have much time now, so I'll post the labor and delivery story later, but here are some pictures of Sydney Jo. She's doing great at home, and thanks to Casey for updating the blog while we were in the hospital!